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Description
The EasyKitchen PRO library includes the DC Change Mat plugin, which consists of four useful tools:
In this article, we will consider working with each of them in more detail.
Replacing Materials
This is the first button on the left of the plugin called "Change Material":
The functionality of this tool is to replace materials on the specified parts of the modules. First you need to select with the mouse one or more modules where you need to replace materials.
When you click on this plugin button, the following window opens:
On the left side of the window there is a list of parts on which materials can be replaced. If, for example, you need to change the texture of the body, then you need to select the "Hull" item, then select the folder with the desired texture, find it in the list that opens and click on it. All textures of hull parts of the selected modules will be replaced. It remains only to adjust the size of the texture in the "Materials" window of the tray by default, because. SketchUp will set the size too small.
To quickly find the desired texture in the selected folder, you can use the filter. It is enough to start typing a name there and the list will be reduced to the required textures.
Important point!
Depending on the number of parts and the size of the project, the initial material change can be quite time consuming. Subsequent replacement will be much faster. But, if the project is very large, the plug-in's working time can increase significantly, up to tens of minutes. Therefore, it is recommended to do the replacement of materials in stages - on 1-2 modules at a time. If you want to make the replacement faster, it is better to use the Material Replacer plugin.
Assign status
The plugin button second from the left is the "Set attribute" tool:
Its task is to assign statuses to individual or several components at once. Statuses are just that list of parts on the left in the window for replacing materials and components. Thus, you can mark up the components included in the module so that the plugin understands what and what it refers to.
For example: you need to finish one of the module racks with facade material, instead of body material. Select it with the mouse and click on this plug-in button. The following window appears:
Here, in the first list, select the status of the component. In our case, these are Facades.
The second list "Consider in:" and the third "Rewrite when replacing" are not relevant yet, they can be skipped.
And the last list "Save component?" allows you to save the component with the specified settings and status. In our example, this item should be switched to "no". If you specify "yes", then the rack will be saved and later it can be replaced through the third button of the plugin, which is responsible for hot swapping. With case panels, this is not relevant, but with facades, handles and other components that support the hot-swap function, this can be done.
Hot swap
This is the third plugin button from the left, called "Change Component":
The functionality of this tool is similar to the functionality of the "Change Material" button, with the only difference that it replaces not textures, but entire components. Those. in this way it is possible to change fronts, handles and other components of modules that support the hot-swap function.
First, you need to select one or more modules with the mouse, where you want to replace the modules.
When you click on this plugin button, the following window opens:
On the left side, the same list of parts as in the material replacement tool. If, for example, facades need to be changed in one or more modules, then you need to select the "Facades" item, then select the folder with the desired facade, find it in the list that opens and click on it. All facades of the selected modules will be replaced.
To quickly find the required replacement component in the selected folder, you can use the filter. It is enough to start typing the name there and the list will be reduced to the required components.
Important point!
Depending on the amount of parts and the size of the project, hot swapping with this plugin may take some time. If the project is large, then it is better to replace each module separately.
Important point!
The "Hierarchy of components and groups" window ("Outliner" in the English version) must be closed before replacing materials and components using this plugin. Otherwise, the processing time will increase significantly.
Report generation
The last button of the plugin is the generation of a project report:
To generate a report, you must first save the project, then select with the mouse all the modules whose details should be included in the report, and click this button.
Depending on the size of the project, report generation may take some time (from a few seconds to several minutes). After the report is ready, you can proceed to its processing. Read more about this in the article Redcut Report Processor.